Before the 1900’s, the Japanese were already in Tawau venturing into agriculture, timber and fishing business. By the 1930’s, the 2 big “giants” operating in Tawau were Kuhara (Nissan) and Kubota (Mitsubishi) .These two names still exist in Tawau until today.

The attacks on Sabah begun on 1st January 1942 in Labuan (Victoria) followed by Membakut and Beaufort. A week later Kota Kinabalu (Jesselton) was captured followed by Sandakan (Elopura). Tawau was occupied on 24th January 1942. The photo below shows Japanese armies delivering speech to the local people, declaring Tawau is occupied.

Tawau occupied by the Japanese on January 24, 1942

During the Japanese occupation, the local currency was replaced with an “Emergency” notes which were called the Nissan Rubber Estate Issues. This was used in Tawau district only.

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Hi Anonymous,Those strange Chinese marks likely are the countermarks.It served as tally to counter check the authenticity of a silver coin.A selected mark was punch on the coin to certify that this silver coin was given out from this merchant and had certified it is a genuine silver.